It has been a very busy few months; some major blessings and some major challenges. 

On Sept. 26 my mom celebrated her 60th birthday in Las Vegas with her sisters; shortly after her trip she became ill with what was diagnosed as a kidney infection but the medicines didn't seem to help.  On Oct. 12, she went to the hospital anticipating that she had kidney stones rather than an infection; but she was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer later that day.  Since then her kidney, spleen, and adrenal gland have been removed at Barnes is St. Louis.  A biopsy on her lung shows that the cancer has spread.  We anticipate that she will begin chemo treatment in pill form next week (four weeks on two weeks off).  My mom had me at 17 years old and has worked her tail off to provide for me since then; she has never smoked and doesn't drink alcohol so we are hopeful that her body responds well to treatment.

During this time, we were blessed to have an exchange student from Guatemala stay with us.  She arrived on Oct. 19 and went home Dec. 9.  Sofi and her family are wonderful people and I look forward to having some lifelong friends. Claudia (Sofi's mom) spent one weekend with us and it was great, I felt an instant connection to her.  Sofi's visit provided a much needed distraction from all of the medical issues and we enjoyed taking her to Kansas City, Iowa, and St. Louis.  Now we communicate via skype and email.

My dad's health continues to deteriorate; he is only 59 years old but his heart ejection fraction is just 15%.  He is now under observation to see if he is a candidate for a defibrillator.  His health history of liver failure, aortic aneurysm, and having his first heart attack at 40 years old always seems to amaze the doctors.

Our family has a big year ahead with Shelby graduating on May 11.  We ask for your continued prayers with all of the challenges and celebrations this year will bring.  My original purpose of this blog was a lenten journey, but from now on I will use it to update friends and serve as my own sort of "therapy".  And of course, I will have to share some pictures.

My mom in the purple with her sisters and mom.

With Sofi at the farm.

Shelby's senior picture

With Sofi at the Plaza in KC